Felicity Joy's work in Thai abdominal massage, as both practitioner and teacher, brings depth and intelligence to an aspect of Traditional Thai Medicine often omitted from our training and thus our work with clients.

Felicity is intent on correcting that omission with two courses for advanced practitioners and a third on the way.

She draws upon her own healing journey, the varied perspectives of her Thai teachers and her clinical experience in her in-depth courses. While Felicity is well known among students of Thai massage for her courses on sen line theory, I thought you might like to hear more, directly from her, about this intriguing abdominal work.

In August, we sat down, I in New York and she in London, and had a recorded video chat over big cups of tea. She is now off to Chiang Mai for a winter of research and writing which (if we are lucky) will result in a book on this subject one day soon.

In the meantime, have a listen to our conversation. Here's what we covered;

her Thai teachers and their widely varied perspectives on belly massage

why abdominal massage is not generally taught to Westerners in Thailand, for reasons rooted in the recent economic and social history of the country

how to guide clients through the emotional release in the session and in the days following this intimate work

working with oil and gloves as it relates to touch, perception and detoxification

what she looks for in a student

What I like most about Felicity is her direct style, her honesty and how she can delve deeply into a complex topic and yet keep it simple.

I sat down to edit our conversation and then decided against it. This lady is just too interesting to delete even a little bit. Make yourself a steaming cup of tea and have a listen to the whole, rich dialog. (Skype connections between New York and London being what they are, you get this recording in two parts.)

Felicity will be teaching around the world in the coming months. Be sure to add her courses to your must-study list. Her complete teaching schedule is on her website.

And when you see her, give her a big hug for me (because you can't exactly do that on Skype)!